Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Megan Walker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Megan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

That’s a great question! The biggest thing I would do differently would be to not listen to anyone. And I mean anyone. God gave you the vision and not your best friend, not your mom, not your boyfriend. He put the talent and vision in you. Listening to those around me tell me what I can’t do only slowed down my growth. Also, I wouldn’t stop. Every time I stopped working towards my business goals I regretted it. The successful ones aren’t always those who are the best in their field, they’re the ones with the discipline and determination to keep going even when they fall.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’d love to share a little about myself and what I do. I have run a blog and social media page for almost ten years now. It has evolved so much since then. I think my first website was a cooking blog. Eventually I moved on to home decor. Now I post everything that encompasses my daily life. I’m currently focusing on content creation. I want to make sure other black and brown girls are represented in all of the content and advertisements we constantly see. I’m really proud of myself for breaking free from the perfect curated box social media made bloggers and content creators feel like they had to be in. I don’t try to post the perfect image anymore, I share my struggles, I show up in a more genuine way and I feel like my followers can relate to that. I know they relate because my engagement shows they truly do enjoy what I share. And I love chatting with all of them. I’ve made some great friends through social media.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Growing on social media is pretty much everyone’s goal. I get it, those large numbers look so good. They feel like validation. But the best way to grow is to not focus on that. Focus on your mission and finding your voice online. That was the hardest thing for me. I would get on my Instagram stories and mimic what other big accounts were doing in the beginning. That was the worst thing to do. There was already a hundred people doing that. I stopped comparing myself and I started showing up on my social media as I do in real life. My advice is to show up the same as you do with your bestie on the phone. Don’t be afraid if you sound different then the successful creatives and people you follow. That’s the secret to building a strong audience.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I went through a rough few years recently with getting divorced and being diagnosed with Lupus. For those who don’t know what Lupus is, it’s an autoimmune disorder where your body’s immune system mistakenly attacks your healthy organs. My case was pretty severe. I had a seizure randomly in a grocery store one day and then they didn’t stop. I had a stroke while I was out running errands. All of that happened in a few short weeks. Eventually I was hospitalized and it took me a full year to recover from the damage that lupus did to my brain. I was struggling to make it through the days. I couldn’t remember words when I would talk. Couldn’t stand for long periods of time. I really thought life was kind of over for me. But when I would have an okay day I still found myself trying to take photos and create content. It brought me joy even during the worst times. That’s when I realized that life is what you make it. I could sit around crying about how horrible I thought my life was or I could get up and push myself to make each day count. That’s looked different from day to day. Some days it was just making myself put on makeup, other days it was completing campaigns and collaborations I agreed to. No matter what I chose to show up. My business helped me get back to “normal”. I’m so grateful that I’m able to do what I love and share this journey now. Hopefully someone will see this and realize they can push through this tough time.

Contact Info:

• Website: Thewalkerhaven.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/itsmeganwalker?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-walker-b36093136